Many varieties of products have been developed to help prevent or reduce the risk of cross contamination from a victim in need of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to the person doing the resuscitation. The person doing the resuscitation will be referred to hereinafter as the operator.
A group of these devices are called shields or masks. They generally consist of plastic or other flexible material that is formed or can be formed to take on a mating configuration of the victim's mouth area to provide an air tight seal. These shield or masks may include a one-way valve or filter through which air from the operator passes on the way to a victim's mouth and lungs.
The operator's hands or fingers are initially employed to engage a portion of the device in a region of a victim's mouth to position a flexible portion of the device against the victim's mouth area which provides an air tight seal.
The operator places the lips of their mouth in a sealing relationship with a surface of the device in a region surrounding the valve or filter. The valve or filter is positioned over the opened mouth of the victim. The operator blows through the valve or filter and his breath passes into the victim's mouth and hence into the victim's lungs. This is followed by the operator releasing his mouth from the surface of the device thereby releasing the air tight seal formed by the device. This release of pressure allows the victim's breath to exit the victim's mouth whereupon the cycle is repeated until the victim regains consciousness.
It should be noted that in today's world there is a mortal fear that any close or intimate contact with body fluids of an individual stricken with the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) or tuberculosis could result in the transmission and infection to a rescuer of these deadly maladies.
Various devices have been devised to shield the rescuer when applying mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
For example the Sherman U.S. Pat. No. 3,802,428 ('428) issued Apr. 9, 1974 discloses a mouth-to-mouth resuscitator comprised of a flexible face mask having a central opening formed therein which extends over the mouth area of the person administering artificial respiration. A flexible tubular member is attached to the periphery of the central opening and depends therefrom for placement in the mouth of the victim. The tubular member acts as a one-way valve and inflates when delivering air and collapses for preventing any air or fluid flow in the reverse direction.
A disadvantage of this design is that the operator's fingers may become contaminated during resuscitation. Because the operator's fingers are needed to hold or position the flexible face mask in place, contamination is likely to be transferred from the operator's fingers to the top surface of the mask where the operator places his mouth.
It is very common during a resuscitation procedure to remove and reposition the mask should the victim vomit. This makes it nearly impossible to prevent contamination from being transferred to the operator's mouth side of the mask during this type of mask handling.
The Eisenberg et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,628 ('628) issued Apr. 11, 1989 shows and defines another typical prior art device, which is described as an improvement over the Sherman patent referred to next above. The Eisenberg et al device includes a flexible sheet having an opening centrally formed therein and a rigid tube secured to the sheet around the periphery of the opening for insertion into a mouth of a victim. A self closing one-way valve is contained in the tube and extends downward from the sheet opening. The operator exhales a deep breath into an input of the one-way valve thereby forcing the operator's exhaled air into the mouth of the victim. The one-way valve prevents any back flow of air, mist or liquid from the victim to the operator. Grooves are formed in the victim's side of the sheet to provide air pathways to the outside for air exhaled by the victim. A patch of an irregular non-smooth surface is also formed on the victim's side of the sheet to prevent the sheet from clinging to the nose of the victim and restricting air flow from the nose.
The subject invention distinguishes over the '428 and '628 patent in that these patents fail to entertain the fact that victims frequently have regurgitated fluids which must be cleared from the victim's mouth region with fingers or the hands of the operator prior to inserting the device's rigid one-way valve into the victim's mouth. Clearing away regurgitated matter and mucous from the mouth area of the victim frequently causes the operator's hands to be covered with regurgitated matter and mucous which may be transferred to the face and mouth area of the operator.
The instant invention includes a secondary flexible barrier interposed between the operator's fingers and hands to shield the mouth and face of the operator from the victim's regurgitated matter and mucous. No suggestion of this inventive feature is found in either the '428 or '628 patents.
The subject invention also takes cognizance of the fact that when the mouth and face of the victim are covered with regurgitated matter and mucous the air pathways and non smooth surface provided in the '628 fail to provide a quick release of the flexible sheet from the victim's face. This failure to provide a quick release restricts the passage of exhaled air from the victim's mouth and nose. As a consequence of this type of air flow restriction the tempo i.e. the rhythm of operator's respiration efforts are hampered and the victim's chances of being successfully resuscitated are diminished.